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The Blue Line extension: a timeline

Promises of money in spring 2018 for the extension of the metro’s blue line to Anjou inspired Steve Faguy to tweet a series of earlier promises, and he’s given me permission to work his items into this timeline. I’m adding various pieces other sources; the question of transit along Pie-IX plays into this, as well as the later notions about the REM and the Pink Line.

October 1966: Initial metro system opens in Montreal.

June 1986: Blue line opens, but only from St-Michel to De Castelnau.

June 1987: Parc station opens, extending the line one station westward.

January 1988: Snowdon station opens and blue line runs from Snowdon to St-Michel, which has now remained the status quo for 30 years. Acadie station doesn’t open till March 1988; it remains one of the least busy in the system and is, to date – summer 2018 – the last metro station opened on the island of Montreal.

February 1990: Montreal Urban Community approves $1-billion loan to fund metro extensions: orange line to Laval, blue line to Anjou and new line on Pie-IX Blvd.

October 1998: Transport minister Jacques Brassard says “the money is there” after Quebec sets aside $63.5 million to extend the blue line east one stop to Pie-IX.

May 2001: Quebec announces $140 million toward transit projects, including extending the orange line to Laval and the blue line to Pie-IX.

April 2002: AMT publishes $3-million study on extending blue line to Anjou, which puts total cost at $700 million.

April 2018: Federal and provincial unite to announce money for the extension of the blue line to Anjou by 2026, including five new stations: Pie-IX, Viau, Lacordaire, Langelier and Galeries d’Anjou. (Since Pie-IX, Viau and Langelier are already station names on the green line, will new names be chosen or will they just be “Pie-IX Nord” or “Viau Bleu”?)

May 2018: Government will be paying out more than $300 million for land expropriations needed to extend the line to Anjou.

Also in May, St-Laurent mayor Alan DeSousa revives a previously mentioned but shelved idea to extend the orange line past the Côte-Vertu terminus to Bois-Franc. A vast underground garage is being excavated near the terminus and DeSousa suggests that it would save money to extend the tunnel at the same time.